Ten-year-old Bobby Smith, son of the local pharmacist and the host of the radio show "Neighbor Dorothy," grows to manhood in Elmwood, Missouri, observing the people and the changes that affect the small town in the decades after the end of World War II.
Dena Nordstrom is a rising television star in the 1970s who has to deal with sleazy reporters, an exuberant roommate, ditsy cousins, and a slew of men who want to be linked with the up-and-coming star.